Qualifications should remain “as stable as possible”

Qualifications should remain “as stable as possible”

The statement comes as Mr Boles considers a major relaunch of Functional Skills qualifications.

Ms Stacey – replying to a letter from the Skills Minister early last month, where he said that Functional Skills would “continue to be one of the types of qualification that learners have available” – welcomed the minister’s “clear statement about the importance you attach to Functional Skills qualifications”.

She did however have cautious words for his plans for a rebrand of the qualifications. She said: “The brand of a qualification is important. It takes some years for qualification titles to become understood and trusted, particularly by employers and others who are not close to the education system.

“In general, our view is that we should keep the qualifications system as stable as possible, to allow qualifications time to prove themselves. We did a small survey of employers and others recently and found that employers in the survey had a broadly positive view of Functional Skills qualifications, as do colleges and other providers.”

The statement comes after the Skills Minister revealed his more supportive view of Functional Skills last month, after being described as “stepping stones” to GCSEs by previous Skills Minister, Matthew Hancock.